UPDATE::: ‘YAHOOIE LOUIE’ I JUST PUBLISHED THIS USING THE NEW ‘OPEN LIVE WRITER’ :))

Kelly tweeted Scott Hanselman from ‘Open Live Writer’ Wednesday night inquiring when the new ‘Open Live Writer’ would be up & running.  Scott tweeted us back with a temporary link saying they were hoping to have OLW up & running over night.  I just published this with the link he sent us & it is working.  I will have more to say about all this tomorrow night 

UPDATE: Scott just tweeted this minutes ago…….ATTN users of Blogger & Windows Live Writer: We have a build of OLW with Blogger support. Remove old accounts first! http://openlivewriter.org

Tonight’s Yarnell Hill photos are the last pics of our Monday morning drive through Yarnell.

WE BEGIN OUR YARNELL HILL DESCENT WITH A FEW SKIFFS OF ICY SLUSH ON THE THE ROAD

When we began our RV Travels back in the Autumn of 2006 we really didn’t have any plans or firmed up destinations.  Only thing clear was our preference to travel in the American Southwest.  Knowing very little about New Mexico, Arizona, & California I had it in my mind to see the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico somewhere & with that thought in mind we set off in that direction.  The rest of course is history as they say & we began our winter wanderings.  Here it is nearly 10 years later & as I look back I see we have spent the majority of our Snow Bird travels in Arizona with California coming in a distant second. 

It was in December of 08 another RV couple met us in Yuma & said friends of theirs were looking for someone to do some ranch sitting.  In January we met the ranch owners in South-east Arizona near the tiny little dusty whistle stop called McNeal.  From that time until January of 2012 we spent several months each winter season ranch sitting.  It was a short couple months after rolling out of the McNeal area ranch in 2012 heading further west we stumbled across & bought our house in Congress Arizona.  So looking back now I would have to call Arizona our second home having spent the majority of our nearly 10 years here.  Starting out back in 06 we had no idea whatsoever what lay ahead of us or that we would end up spending the majority of our time in Arizona.  In fact I’m surprised we have been traveling the South-west for as long as we have.  Who knew.

STOPPED & TOOK A FEW PICS FOR A SCENIC OVERLOOK

THERE IS A TWO LANE HIGHWAY COMING UP THE MOUNTAIN & A SINGLE LANE GOING DOWN & THIS IS THE HIGHWAY BELOW COMING UP

It goes without saying what has attracted us here to the deserts & mountains of Arizona, New Mexico, & California & at the risk of repetition I’ll repeat just a few of those reasons again.  First & foremost for us was & still is the overall beautiful scenery which I have gone on & on in my posts each & every year about.  Next of course is the weather.  Neither Kelly or I like hot & humid weather so that rules out traveling south of the U.S. border & not liking bitter cold & snow is what drives us out of Canada each Fall.   Yes it can get overly hot here & cold here from mid October to the end of March but in between we are able to enjoy the near perfect weather which we both enjoy.  And just think, no pesky bugs or biting insects, no torrential rains, no tornados, no hurricanes, no prolonged cloudy gray skies, no Allimagators & no active poisonous snakes out & about during the winter months.  And here’s a biggy, a whole lot less people & traffic congestion found in many other States. 

HIGHWAY COMING UP CAN BE SEEN ON THE LEFT & ABOVE THAT IS A STRAIGHT LINE ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN SIDE WHICH IS THE ROAD GOING DOWN

I REMEMBER SOMEONE ASKING ME AWHILE BACK IF THIS LARGE CATTLE OPERATION IS STILL IN OPERATION……IT IS NOT

Parts of the old wild West are still alive in many areas of Arizona & for me that has always been a main attraction as well.  Cowboys on horses are real & I never tire of seeing them on horseback wherever it may be.  I have mixed feeling about some of the lax laws but one just has to adjust to a lot of the old tumble down houses & properties found in so many smaller towns & outback areas.  I guess you could say that it lends itself to the ways & times of an era almost gone but hardly forgotten.

HIGHWAY COMING UP THE YARNELL HILL

HEADED DOWN THE HILL

ROAD IS STILL WET FROM THE MORNINGS MELTED ICE

I’ve often thought if Utah had had a more favorable winter climate we could have easily ended up there as well.  It’s still my favorite scenic State.  If California wasn’t so expensive we may have spent more time there over the years & again if New Mexico had a warmer winter climate we might have ended up settling in that State as well.  But Arizona it is & we do like it here despite a few cold spells now & again.  For me I much prefer doing things outside in cooler weather as opposed to hot & humid.  But that’s just me:))

Kelly tried her best with the new Lenova laptop computer but this morning she packed it up in it’s box to be returned to Amazon.  The straw that broke the Camel’s back was the computers difficulty connecting to the Internet.  My Toshiba sitting right beside the Lenova had no problems connecting while the Lenova kept dropping the connection.  Researching the internet on her older Acer lap top she learned the connection problem is inherent with the model she had.  Even with Kelly’s oceans of patience the writing was on the wall & she had had enough.  So disappointing after all the hours she spent first having to re-install a bad Windows 10 install plus setting up her computer account & transferring a bunch of data.  Wasn’t until she had done all that that she discovered the connection problem.  Not often if hardly ever I see Kelly discouraged……but I saw it this morning:((

KELLY UNPACKING HER NEW LENOVA LAST FRIDAY….TODAY SHE PACKED IT UP TO SEND BACK

Pheebs & I did get out for a desert walk today but it wasn’t until almost noon.  Usually we’re just getting home by that time but with cooler morning temps we didn’t head out till almost noon.  Nice walk, a few pics & that was about it for today.  Ohhhhhhhhh so happy to have the new Open Live Writer working now.  Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou

GROANER’S CORNER:(( There were two blondes who went deep into the frozen woods searching for a Christmas tree.
After hours of subzero temperatures a few close calls with hungry wolves, one blonde turned to the other and said,
"I'm chopping down the next tree I see. I don't care whether it's decorated or not!"

Q. What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
A. It's Christmas, Eve.

Q: What is a webmaster's favourite hymn?
A: Oh, dot com all ye faithful!

When we began our RV Travels back in the Autumn of 2006 we really didn’t have any plans or firmed up destinations.  Only thing clear was our preference to travel in the American Southwest.  Knowing very little about New Mexico, Arizona, & California I had it in my mind to see the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico & with that thought in mind we set off in that direction.  The rest of course is history as they say & we began our winter wanderings.  Here it is nearly 10 years later & as I look back I see we have spent the majority of our Snow Bird travels in Arizona with California coming in a distant second. 

WE BEGIN OUR DESCENT DOWN THE YARNELL HILL WITH A FEW SKIFFS OF ICY SLUSH ON THE ROAD

Think it was in December of 08 another RV couple met us in Yuma & said friends of theirs were looking for someone to do some ranch sitting.  In January we met the Ranch owners in South-east Arizona near a tiny little dusty spot called McNeal.  From that time until January of 2012 we spent several months of each winter season ranch sitting.  A short couple months after rolling out of the McNeal area ranch heading further west we stumbled across & bought our house in Congress Arizona.  So looking back now I would have to call Arizona our second home having spent the majority of our nearly 10 years here.  Starting out back in 06 we had no idea whatsoever what lay ahead of us & that we would end up spending the majority of our time in Arizona.  In fact I’m surprised we have been traveling the South-west for as long as we have.  Who knew.
  

It goes without saying what has attracted us here to the deserts & mountains Arizona, New Mexico, & California but at the repeated concern of repetition here’s a few things.  First & foremost for us was & still is the overall beautiful scenery which I have gone on & on in my posts each & every year.  Next of course is the weather.  Neither Kelly or I like hot & humid weather so that rules out traveling south of the U.S. border.  Not liking bitter cold & snow is what drives us out of Canada each Fall.   Yes it can get overly hot here & overly cold here from mid October to the end of March but in between we are able to enjoy the near perfect weather which we both enjoy.  And just think, no pesky bugs or biting insects, no torrential rains, no tornados, no hurricanes, no prolonged cloudy gray skies, no Alligators & no active poisonous snakes out & about during the winter months.  And here’s a biggy, a whole lot less people & traffic congestions found in many other States. 

Parts of the old wild West are still alive in many areas of Arizona & for me that has always been a main attraction as well.  Cowboys on horses are real & I never tire of seeing them on horseback wherever it may be.  I have mixed feeling about some of the lax laws but one just has to adjust to a lot of the old tumble down houses & properties found in so many smaller towns & outback areas.  I guess you could say that it lends itself to the ways & times of an era almost gone but hardly forgotten.

I’ve often thought if Utah would have had a more favorable winter climate we could have easily ended up there as well.  It’s still my favorite scenic State.  If California wasn’t so expensive we may have spent more time there over the years & again if New Mexico had a warmer winter climate we might have ended up settling in that State for the summer months somewhere.  But Arizona it is & we do like it here despite a few cold spells now & again.  For me I much prefer doing things outside in cooler weather as opposed to hot & humid.  But that’s just me:))

Kelly tried her best with the new Lenova laptop computer but this morning she packed it up back in it’s box to be returned to Amazon.  The straw that broke the Camel’s back was the computers difficulty connecting to the Internet.  My Toshiba sitting right beside the Lenova had no problems connecting while the Lenova kept dropping the connection.  Researching the internet on her older Acer she came to learn that connection problem is inherent with the model she had.  Even with Kelly’s oceans of patience the writing was on the wall & she had had enough.  So disappointing after all the hours she spent first having to re-install a bad Windows 10 install plus setting up her computer account & transferring a bunch of data.  Wasn’t until she had done all that that she discovered the connection problem.  Not often if hardly ever I see Kelly discouraged……but I saw it this morning:((

Pheebs & I did get out for a desert walk today but it wasn’t until almost noon.  Usually we’re just getting home by that time but cooler morning temps we didn’t head off till almost noon.  Nice walk, a few pics & that was about it for today.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( There were two blondes who went deep into the frozen woods searching for a Christmas tree.
After hours of subzero temperatures a few close calls with hungry wolves, one blonde turned to the other and said,
"I'm chopping down the next tree I see. I don't care whether it's decorated or not!"
Q. What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
A. It's Christmas, Eve.
Q: What is a webmaster's favourite hymn?
A: Oh, dot com all ye faithful!....

TEST POST WITH OPEN LIVE WRITER

Test, Test, Test…….. Kelly tweeted Scott Hanselman from ‘Open Live Writer’ this afternoon inquiring when the new ‘Open Live Writer’ will be up & running.  Scott tweeted us back with a temporary link saying they were hoping to have OLW up & running over night.  I just published this with the link he sent us & it is working.  I am going to go ahead & do my day’s post using OLW & hopefully it will be Ok & ready to go for everyone else Thursday sometime……

'BRRRRRR' IT MAY BE COLD HERE AT THE MOMENT BUT IT'S STILL THE BEST PLACE TO BE:))

TONIGHT'S PHOTOS ARE AGAIN FROM MONDAY MORNINGS DRIVE THROUGH SNOWY YARNELL ARIZONA

Well there’s no getting around it we sure had ourselves a cold night here with temps dipping into the high 20’s somewhere I think.  Any birds landing on our bird bath for a morning drink might have ended up with a bent or busted beak.  Froze!!  An even colder night predicted tonight.

THOSE LONE TRACKS IN THE SNOW ARE MINE AS I MADE A U-TURN THROUGH THE RANCH HOUSE RESTAURANT PARKING LOT TO COME BACK & TAKE THIS PHOTO:))

SLIPPING MY WAY DOWN INTO THE HEART OF YARNELL

 

Under a big bright sunny Arizona sky I again worked away on our neighbor’s property for a couple hours again this morning.  Air was cold but the sunshine kept me warm under a couple flannel shirts.  Temperatures as of late have been warmer back home in Bayfield than here in Congress Arizona so are we thinking we should have stayed home.  No way Jose, not a chance.  Despite warmer temperatures I well know how bleak the countryside is looking right now up there with it’s leafless trees & brown fields.  And then there’s the dampness in the air & prolonged gray skies.  Nope, give me Winter’s sunny Arizona skies any day.  No contest:)) 

 
For 32 years I have been in the habit of always caring a small notebook & pen with me.  I am a guy who wears button up shirts with pockets & in those pockets over all those years & right up until this morning sat my many small note books.  And yes they have all been black.  In December of 1983 I found myself in a situation where it was important for me to keep track of a lot of things .  No easy feat for a problematic short term memory character like myself.  Decided the best way to do that was to write everything down & repeatedly check my little black through the day to make sure I hadn’t forgot anything.  That little habit has served me well over the years & I have lived my life with a notebook & pen in my pocket ever since.  Only ever once did I lose a book over all those years & that happened when unbeknownst to me it somehow got blown out of my pocket while I was flying down the road on my motorcycle.  Well except right now while typing this that is.  Well where is my notebook then.  Aha……..as I type this I am temporarily separated from my little black book this afternoon because it is currently sitting outside in the sun on a lawn chair.  Sunning itself??  No, drying itself!!!!  I did a load of laundry this morning………need I say more:((

NO IDEA WHAT THIS FLOWERING TREE IS

A SNOWY MANZANITA

Kelly ran into problems with her new Lenova lap top computer a few days ago & ended up having to un-install Windows 10 then re-install it again.  ‘Edge’ would not work with the original install but is working properly now.  Always something with these computers eh.

I don’t know what’s going on with my Picasa photo editing program but Monday night for the first time ever after editing countless thousands of photos over the years Picasa totally screwed up all my Monday Yarnell photos.  Had edited 85 photos Monday afternoon & Monday night when I went to retrieve some of them for my post all the edits had totally doubled & tripled themselves.  I had to take each photo & backtrack the over edits out of them & start again.  Like I said that has never ever happened & it’s nothing I did to cause it.  I’ve been using Picasa too long to mess it up that bad.  No, something happened within the program itself.  Is it a coincidence that Picasa screwed up right on the heels of this latest Google Blogger & Live Writer debacle.  I did have a look awhile back at Google’s Google+ photo editing program (or whatever it’s called) & it didn’t hold a candle to Picasa.  Picasa is by far the superior photo editing program.  What has me worried now is that something may be going on with Picasa next as if the Live Writer/Google Blogger wasn’t enough.  I’ve always liked a lot of Google stuff over the years but I think they do seem to have a habit of playing fast & loose with some segments of their clientele sometimes.  I know the fast moving technology is constantly evolving & their target market is understandably younger folks but hey there’s a whole bunch of us older folks out here needing a little respect & TLC as well.

Kelly missed my Sunday catch up post so in case anyone else missed it you can read it here…..MY SUNDAY CATCH UP POST.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Just before Christmas, two brothers were spending the night at their Grandma's house. At bed time, they knelt down to say their prayers.  As they closed their eyes, one boy said in a loud voice, "Dear Lord, please ask Santa Claus to bring me a Wii, a telescope and a new bike."   His older brother said, "Why are you shouting? God isn't deaf."
"I know," said his brother, "but Grandma is."

- Sometimes Santa will fall down a chimney. Then he's Santa Klutz.

- Christmas: The time when everyone gets Santamental.

- What did the reindeer say before launching into his comedy routine?  This will sleigh you.

- How do you know Santa has to be a man?  No woman is going to wear the same outfit year after year.

A BRIGHT SNOWY MORNING IN YARNELL ARIZONA BUT AN ICY HILL TO GET THERE

LOOKING VERY CHRISTMASY IN YARNELL ARIZONA

“Hate to tell you but it’s snowing”.  Those were Kelly’s first words at 6:15 this morning as she stepped out onto our front porch for a look see after we had heard rain on the roof earlier.  Yes we are in Arizona & yes it does snow in certain parts of Arizona most every winter.  An email this morning from Canadian neighbors Don & Barb saying it was 85F & humid in Florida & Don was about ready to head home for some cooler Canadian temperatures & snow.

BRRRRRRRRRR IT WAS LOOKING MIGHTY COLD OUTSIDE THIS MORNING

As dawn broke I was kinda hoping to see some Christmasy snow but alas it all seemed to have fallen on the Jeep with nothing on the ground aside from a small barely visible skiff here & there.  But not to worry, I knew where there would be snow & I knew it was only a 10 minute drive from house.

WITH AN ICE COVERED ENGINE HOOD WE HEAD OFF FOR THE WEAVER MOUNTAINS 

HAD TO KEEP A SHARP EYE OUT FOR 'BLACK ICE' ON THE YARNELL HILL THIS MORNING

By 9 o’clock Pheebs & I were out the door heading for the nearby Weaver Mountains.  I could see a light dusting of snow high up on the mountain side & had my fingers crossed there would be more as we began our climb up the Yarnell Hill.  From having driven many a winter in the North I was alerted immediately to the shadowy sections of the highway knowing full well ‘black ice’ could be lurking there.  Slipped Libby into 4-wheel drive just in case & made it a point not to hurry.  One does not want to make a mistake on a curvy iced up mountain road.  And besides it was my first experience with a 4-wheel drive vehicle on a slippery surface.

PULLED OVER FOR A FEW PHOTOS

LOOKING BACK DOWN THE ROAD IN THE DIRECTION FROM WHENCE WE HAD COME

LOOKING OUT OVER THE SONORAN DESERT BELOW

Wasn’t long & I could see & hear road ice crunching under the tires.  Paid particular attention to the shadowed curves as we steadily approached the top rounding one tight curve after another.  Did pull over for one photo stop along the way & not long after we were at the top & into the picturesque little village of Yarnell.  And yes the ground was covered with an inch or so of snow.  Plows were busy scraping the road & salting.  WHAT!!!!  Awwww nuts I just didn’t think about salt on the road.  Road salt is the absolute scourge of any vehicle & I well know the rust damage it causes.  Drove in the stuff for years.  Oh well I was there to find some cheery Christmasy snow photos & not to worry about the ravages of salty roads. 

JUST ACROSS THE ROAD FROM THE 'RANCH HOUSE' RESTAURANT

It was a mixture of cloud &sun I found myself in & with some of the houses & business buildings being painted in my favorite south-west colors I was able to find a few nice settings tucked away on the tiny snow laced sleepy streets.  I think I may very well have been the only one up & about in the whole town........Because I took so many photos in Yarnell today I am going to have to space them out over the next few posts.  Tonight's photos will concentrate on a few snowy homes in Yarnell.

HEY GAELYN THIS ONE'S FOR YOU:))

By the time we were ready to head back on down the Yarnell Hill the roads were bare pavement with the warm morning Sun having worked it’s magic.  Couple photo stops on the way down & we were soon once again on the floor of the Sonoran Desert.  We were at the point where the desert breeze meets the mountain air.  Our lovely Christmas scenery was behind us & were we to return back up to Yarnell in a couple hours we would probably have found all the nice Christmas snow already melted. 

THESE 2 BARKY DOGS WERE SURE EXCITED TO SEE THE PHEEBS

THEY SURE WERE SURE MAKING A BIG FUSS

First thing I did when we arrived home was to thoroughly hose down the Jeep including wheel wells
& undercarriage.  From there it was into the house with doors closed & heaters going.  No idea what the temperature was today but with the wind chill factor it was definitely an inside day.  At the time of posting tonight our skies are clearing so fingers are again crossed for a sunny & warmer Tuesday.

WHAT A COUPLE A CUTIE PIES

GROANER’S CORNER:((  One Christmas, Joe and Peter built a skating rink in the middle of a field. A shepherd leading his flock decided to take a shortcut across the rink. The sheep, however, were afraid of the ice and wouldn't cross it. Desperate, the shepherd began tugging them to the other side.  'Look at that, 'remarked Peter to Joe, 'That guy is trying to pull the wool over our ice!'

-------------

Q. What do you get if you cross Santa with a detective ?
A. Santa Clues!

Q: Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve?
A: Because it " soots " him!

Q. What happened when Joe ate the Christmas decorations?
A. He came down with tinsel-itis.